Future Ponderings

Having this surgery and actually getting a good deal of weight off for the first time in several years has really made me think more about my future since it looks like I might actually have a future now :) One thing I have really wanted to do was go back to school. I graduated back in '95 with a bachelor's in Communication Disorders (speech pathology), had Tanner two months later, took a year off to be with him and then tried to go back to Graduate school. I got a semester under my belt during the summer, started the fall semester and then Tanner got meningitis that October 6th and life as I knew it was turned upside down.

I decided to take the rest of the semester off to regroup, but as it got closer to the Spring, I just knew that Tanner would suffer if I tried to go through the rigors of graduate school. He needed my time and attention more than he ever did and he had a whole list of doctors, specialists, physical therapists, speech therapists, ECI case workers, etc. There just wasn't any way I could do it all and I wasn't going to sacrifice my role as a mother so that I could finish my graduate degree.

I can tell you now that I have NEVER regretted my decision. My mother helped Erik and I with bills for years so that I could stay home and be his mom and get him to and from his various appointments. When Tanner went into Kindergarten, we were decided to move from San Antonio to San Marcos so that he could attend the Texas School for the Deaf which was about 45 miles north. He spent a year there and we came to the realization that while Tanner was helped by signing, he was also very dependent on what auditory ability he had. He was also very oral and both of these things meant that he didn't exactly fit in all that well with the voice off signing at TSD. His classmates were always asking me if he was hearing because he talked so much lol.

I had tried a few times to get back into grad school, but something always seemed to happen and I had to withdraw. Luckily my undergraduate performance spoke for itself and the Dean gave me a lot of leeway I doubt he would have given to many others. I finally just took it as a sign that I needed to focus on Tanner and save school for another time.

When he got into school full time, I went back to work. I was lucky enough to find a job with the American Cancer Society and worked there until 2007. I LOVED my work with ACS and the only reason I left was because we had to move back to San Antonio and I just couldn't do an 1.5 hr commute both ways.

During my tenure at ACS, I started looking into Nursing. Around 2001, I got serious about it. Started ordering catalogs from nursing schools in San Antonio (we were now living half way between where I worked in Austin and San Antonio) and had pretty much decided on the program I wanted to apply to. I was this close to submitting all my transcripts, etc when my mom was diagnosed with cancer that November. You all know how that turned out. From that point on, things in my life really spiraled out of control and I just decided to focus on work and getting Tanner all growed up as best I could.

So, if I haven't bored you to tears yet...One of the things I've been considering is what I want to do when I go back to school. What do I want to BE? I've considered the following options:

1. Physician's assistant
2. Nursing (likely oncology, obstetrics, maybe even hospice)
3. Go to culinary school in a baking and pâtisserie program
4. PharmD program
5. Travel Agent

I've pretty much narrowed it down to Nursing at this point. I've always loved science and the medical field in general and I think I'd have comparable pay to a PA, be able to complete a Nursing degree much faster than a PA and have more flexibility ultimately. I had been considering the PharmD program because of the money, but I KNOW it would bore me to tears. The travel agent would be fun and I think I'd enjoy the free travel, etc but I'm not going to make the sort of money I want to make. Ditto for the culinary school (I've often fantasized about having my own bakery some day).

So, at this point, I am researching what courses I need to take to get into nursing school. Right now it looks like chem 1 and 2 with labs, microbiology with lab and nutrition and maybe human growth and development. A local school has an accelerated RN program that I could complete in 15 months, but you have to be able to apply Nov 1 for admittance next May. I may try to apply next November though. Who knows, maybe I'll have changed my mind again by then.

Anyway, it is nice to have a future to look forward to no matter where I end up :)